Dr. Richard Meadows, MU College of Veterinary Medicine faculty member and director of Community Practice, has been awarded the 2007-2008 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Meadows will be recognized, along with other higher education award recipients, during a Teaching Faculty Awards Luncheon to be held April 9 at Lincoln University in Jefferson City.

Dr. Dennis O’Brien, a professor in the CVM Veterinary Neurology program, nominated Meadows for the Governor’s Award. O’Brien noted his colleague’s many contributions to veterinary medicine, including the HOPE Project that Meadows initiated and leads. The HOPE Project takes participating veterinary students to metropolitan Kansas City and other underserved areas to assist in low-cost spay and neuter clinics aimed at decreasing the numbers of neglected animals in shelters. The students develop their surgical skills while being reminded of why they wanted to become veterinarians – to alleviate animal suffering.

“It is that transcendence from the classroom to the community and from the how to the why that makes Dr. Meadows a very special teacher deserving of this special award,” O’Brien noted.

Meadows was graduated magna cum laude from West Texas State University in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He received a bachelor’s degree in veterinary science and DVM magna cum laude from Texas A&M University in 1980 and 1981 respectively.

Since joining the MU faculty in 1999, Meadows has delivered numerous continuing education presentations from regional to international audiences, including the annual meeting of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Central and Western Veterinary Conferences, and a 2003 Veterinary Geriatric symposium in the Netherlands.

Closer to home, Meadows provides both continuing education and extension services through telephone conversations with both practicing veterinarians and the animal-owning public throughout the state and Midwest.

Although relatively few awards for teaching are given to College of Veterinary Medicine faculty, Meadows has received three CVM teaching recognitions, a campus-wide award and a national award. In 2001, he received the Carl J. Norden Distinguished Teacher Award, considered the highest teaching award bestowed on a veterinary professional in the College of Veterinary Medicine by professional students. Senior veterinary students recognized Meadows for outstanding teaching by voting him recipient of the fourth-year class Aesculapius Teaching Award in 2003. Also in 2003, the Professional Graduate Council awarded him the Golden Chalk Award for outstanding professional and graduate teaching. In 2005, he accepted the prestigious campus-wide William T. Kemper Excellence in Teaching Fellowship Award.

Meadows was named the Bustad Companion Animal Practitioner of the Year 2006. This national award recognizes the individual who has made the greatest contribution to promoting the importance of the human animal bond in veterinary medicine and society. One of the prime reasons Meadows received this award was because of his effectiveness in teaching this aspect of the veterinary profession to his students.

Meadows brings to the College teaching expertise in preventative medicine and primary care practice for small companion animals, subjects critical for the professional training of future veterinarians. His background in clinical pathology and experience in small-animal practice enable him to bridge basic and clinical sciences in pathophysiology and clinical diagnostics. His expertise in cytology, otology, dermatology, and dentistry has brought important new dimensions to teaching and Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital programs and has raised the acumen of students, house officers and peer faculty. As the director of Community Practice, Meadows integrates clinical teaching and clinical service, linking instructional activities directly to primary areas of companion-animal practice. His teaching affects the initial success of MU’s new veterinary graduates.

His overall student-derived teaching effectiveness scores have been substantially above the department averages each year with his mean annual student-derived teaching scores between 4.5 and 4.9 on a 5.0 scale. Based on this criterion, this places him in the upper 10 percent of instructors among the 50 departmental faculty members.

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